How do stars burn for sooooo long ?

"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...

"Chuck Taylor" wrote in message
...

"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...

"ugotthe8" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Just a simple question...How do stars keep going and going and going
for
so
long?

I realize that there is an amazing amount of gas in them, but it
seems
to
me, that if it is flammable, it should all burn up at once in a big
chain
reaction explosion?

I think I may be missing something fundamental. Does the energy
come
from
heavy elements at the center and get realeased gradually or
something?

Is there a good website that explains this? Thanks.

Picture making some bacon, and the grease in the pan catches fire.
There
will be a flash, and then a nice 3 foot flame for a minute or so. Now
picture a REALLY BIG FRYING PAN and LOTS OF GREASE!!!


Ah... All that greasy flame explains all of the dust (soot) we see.

Do elliptical galaxies have stars burning cleaner grease?
snip

Somehow my light-hearted example seems to have been misunderstood. In
order
to protect my reputation as a partial idiot and not a total one, I'd like
to
explain.

Aw, it was a lot more fun the first time!

;-)

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/


What I was trying to illustrate was that although the grease fire
begins with a bang, it does not burn all the fuel instantly. Stars work
the
same way, as I understand it. They start with a nice hot fusion reaction,
and then peter out slowly (millions of years?) as they use up their fuel.
So
although there is a constant super hot fusion reaction going, stars are so
massive that they take a long time to burn up ALL of their fuel.

BV.

"Algomeysa" wrote in
alt.astronomy:


What's that Dark Matter in the bottom of my frying pan?

You shouldn't overheat tachyons. When excited they can shift the bottom of
your frying pan into future oblivion. Even reversing the polarity of the
inertial dampeners won't help.

But OTOH - they're low carb.


--
CeeBeeMeUpScotty


Uxbridge: "By God, sir, I've lost my leg!"
Wellington: "By God, sir, so you have!"


Google CeeBee @ www.geocities.com/ceebee_2

I think it would be a more starlike picture if you were to fry an Egg
instead :-)

Nige

"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...

"ugotthe8" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Just a simple question...How do stars keep going and going and going for
so
long?

I realize that there is an amazing amount of gas in them, but it seems
to
me, that if it is flammable, it should all burn up at once in a big
chain
reaction explosion?

I think I may be missing something fundamental. Does the energy come
from
heavy elements at the center and get realeased gradually or something?

Is there a good website that explains this? Thanks.

Picture making some bacon, and the grease in the pan catches fire. There
will be a flash, and then a nice 3 foot flame for a minute or so. Now
picture a REALLY BIG FRYING PAN and LOTS OF GREASE!!!

BV.